Berks Jazz Fest is 10 days of music

Many jazz fans from around the area have developed an annual early spring ritual that involves a trip to the Reading area. Their destination each year is the Berks Jazz Festival.

This year’s Berks Jazz Festival gets underway Friday and continues through April 14 at a variety of venues around the Reading area.

Friday’s major attractions are Keiko Matsui at the Miller Center for the Arts and the RSO’s 100th Anniversary Celebration featuring Dianne Reeves and the Reading Symphony Orchestra at the Sovereign Performing Arts Center.

The schedule also features John Scofield’s Hollowbody Band at Gerald Veasley’s Jazz Base at the Crowne Plaza, The Music of Amy Winehouse featuring Jenifer Kinder and the Amy Flies in Paradise Band at the Abraham Lincoln Hotel Ballroom, Najee with special guest Alex Bugnon at the Crowne Plaza Reading Ballroom and Gerald Veasley’s Midnight Jam at Gerald Veasley’s Jazz Base.

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Saturday’s activities begin with a pair of matinee events: a concert and workshop with British guitar legend Martin Taylor at 1 p.m. at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts and Gerald Veasley’s Sounds of Philly featuring Phil Perry, Nick Colionne, Carol Riddick and special guest Kindred The Family Soul at 2 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Reading Ballroom.